


Those Who Dare

by Full_Moon_Nights



Series: Those Who Dare [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Childhood Friends, Explicit Language, Friendship/Love, Gen, Human/Pokemon Relationship(s), Interspecies, Interspecies Relationship(s), Original Pokemon Region, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:55:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Full_Moon_Nights/pseuds/Full_Moon_Nights
Summary: "The whole nation is currently at war, the only thing is that most people aren't aware of it, and that means I'm doing my job right."The saying goes that there are only two constants in the world: death and taxes, but the truth is that many other things could also make the list... Things such as greed, corruption, and conflict.The Nation of Heir resides on a beautiful island away from the other regions, and things are run differently here in the hopes that it could deter the crime syndicates, and generally evil groups that plague the regions that run "gym circuits", and so far it seems to be quite successful.It seems...This part is centered around OC Jake as he learns what there is to learn about the Nation of Heir, and the dark secrets that it harbors.(Currently rated M for language and violence)
Series: Those Who Dare [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793761
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Those Who Dare

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first ever attempt at writing.
> 
> I wanted to start off saying I never expected to have this much fun writing. I personally enjoy reading a lot, and after some time, I couldn't help myself but be inspired by some top-notch works and (eventually) give it a shot for myself.
> 
> HUGE thanks to Nocturnal_Novelist for all the inspiration, and help with beta-ing they gave me. I recommend checking them and their works out on either this site or FFN. Also another shout-out to fellow newbie writer What_Lies_Within, stop on by their page and give them some love/encouragement/feedback on their project.
> 
> Although I personally find feedback hard to take, I would much appreciate it to help myself learn and grow.
> 
> With all that being said, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

A Boy Named Jake

Jake

Somewhere in a sleepy suburbia, in the town of Receda, there lives a teenage boy, home alone. His face is blank as he looks up at the ceiling, caught up in his thoughts.

His name is Jake, a high school student aged seventeen. 

He looked at the television set before him, the display had been off since he got home roughly a half-hour ago, according to the clock above the TV. He usually turns it on right away when he returns from school, but today his mind was too busy to bother even looking for the remote. Jake pays close attention to the news, whether it is from the TV, online, or the newspapers he and his family get every morning; absorbing the constant stream of information. This activity often causes him to experience episodes like he is experiencing now.

The boy is shaken from his stupor by quiet mechanical clicking: the clock above the TV, audibly counting down the seconds until the end of time. It read 3:54 PM.

The boy closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, then sighed it out softly, when he opened them again, he looked to his left toward the family Growlithe. He had his head in his paws, slumbering soundly. He often joined Jake in the living room to accompany him for his after-school routine.

Jake wanted to turn on television now that he had his wits about him, but he couldn’t find the remote anywhere... and then the realization hit him: Jake looked down to his partner, and sure enough, the Pokémon was laying on it. Jake was beginning to figure that he is doing this on purpose lately.

Jake admired his friend’s sleeping form, the canine had cream colored fur on the top of his head, around his mouth, all down his chest, underbelly, and tail. Each forepaw had two ivory white claws. His forelegs held a single black stripe marking across the front, while his hinds boasted two, and three more streaking across his back. Dazzling orange fur covered the rest of his form.

Jake knew that with his fiery looks came an equally flamboyant character. When they were around, Scorch loved to tease the rest of the family with his rambunctious actions and -though lost on Jake’s parents- his words. His general demeanor was rarely ever less than lively, shrewd, and somewhat immature in a fun way, though beyond all, he was friendly and loyal to a fault. What was interesting to Jake was that despite being older than Jake and growing up by his side, his voice indefinitely sounded similar to a human of nine or so years.

“ _Ey! Take that back or I’ll give you a first-rate trip in the big van to see your mum,”_ he always said whenever Jake did something to point out just how young he seemed. He was glad that Scorch decided to stay with his family over eighteen years ago, despite being an only child, Jake never felt devoid of anything since he always had Scorch to talk to and have some rough and tumble with. Whatever he needed, big or small, Scorch was always there for him.

He knew he had his parents for anything he needed, too, but with his mother being an ER nurse, and father being a police officer, they didn’t have nearly as much time for him like Scorch did.

Jake smiled down at the Pokémon, he was forever grateful.

He took his left hand and scratched his favorite spot: behind the ears. “Must be hard work; lying around all day if you’re taking a power nap,” he teased as he roused his friend from his slumber.

The Puppy Pokémon leaned into the touch before replying. “ _You know full well that I’m the guard dog around here._ _I take it upon myself to protect the house while everyone is out_ _; and yes, it is tiresome holding the entire day shift all by myself, thank you for your concern-”_ He paused to look at the remote beneath his stomach as if to confirm it was still there. _“There’s no one around to interact with anyway, so what else do you expect me to do?_ ”

Jake saw right through the canine’s dramatic display. “You’d think it’d be hard to ‘guard the house’ when you’re nodding off that hard, don’t you think? Did you even notice me coming into the house and sitting next to you?” Jake challenged, though he already knew he was going to receive nothing but insistent, affirmative barks, so he went on. “Besides, we’ve been here long enough to know this town is rather peaceful compared to the city.” Now Jake glanced at the remote ledged beneath the fire dog. “Also, can you explain how you somehow ended up lying on the damn remote _again?_ ”

“ _You need to find a way to keep your mind off those things, Jake, especially when you find yourself talking to your dog.”_ Scorch said as he gave a smirk. _“It isn’t your job to worry about that stuff, at least… not yet. There are people out there more qualified to handle anything you see on the news, and for a lot of those people, it is their jobs to handle them.”_ Jake was about to protest, but Scorch beat him to the punch. _“These things won’t change overnight, so there’s no need to get all worked up about anything you might see. It’ll make us a lot happier if we knew you were going good in your studies and not stressing over this stuff you can’t help, so_ please _try your best and push it to the side._ ” He punctuated that the conversation was over by turning his head and laying it on Jake’s leg.

Jake knew Scorch was right. Ever since his family moved to this new suburb and he was forced to switch schools, he found it difficult to truly unwind himself. More often than not, he was too stressed to partake in any hobbies, but since moving schools, his performance in school had more or less returned to normal. They had moved not because his parents had gotten a new job, but because they noticed just how troubled Jake was at his previous school system. He never liked talking about it to anybody, including his family, and since Jake has resumed his excellent performance at school, no one bothered him about it either.

Jake snapped back to reality to the sound of Scorch sighing contentedly. He noticed that Scorch was now on his side, and Jake was now rubbing his stomach, much to the canine’s delight.

Jake smiled down at him. “Always so easy to please, aren’t ya?” Jake teased.

“ _Oh, big talk ‘cause you’ve got hands huh?_ ” Scorch rebuked, still enjoying the attention. _“It isn’t like I can do this myself, you know.”_

Jake smiled at him. He loved Scorch with all his heart. To Jake, Scorch was a big brother, always fussing about his well-being. Scorch had come into the household before Jake was even born. He was found by his father when he was taking a jog through the prairie near their old house in Bafrig City. He was just a pup back then, always eager for Jake’s father to visit, as his father said that the young Scorch would be waiting for him in the same spot whenever he came through on his regular exercise regimen without fail. No one knew why he was there, since the only native Growlithe in Heir are in the northern Idian province. Whenever Jake asks of his background, Scorch never gave a definitive answer, but he knew the canine would ultimately decide to stay due to his species’ nature to bond easily with humans. His father said that he offered the pup a place to live when he couldn’t continue his workout regime. Scorch obviously accepted, though with some visible conflict.

Whatever it was that conflicted him, Jake is glad beyond words that he decided to stay with his family.

“ _Hello-o? Jake? Are you just going to be staring off into space all day? Not that I mind, I do enjoy the non-attentive attention,_ ” Scorch said through satisfied sighs, bringing Jake back from the clouds.

Jake simply responded by giving him an all-out belly scratch with both hands, both parties laughing almost manically.

“Alright, guess I’ll go downstairs and hit the bag, you wanna come?” Jake asked after they finished basking in the brotherly love.

“ _Nah, after all that I’m feeling a nap._ ” Said Scorch with a tired look in his eyes. “ _Be sure not to let the bag whoop you too hard, I don’t wanna get up to answer your cries for help._ ”

Jake said nothing, opting instead to flip him off. He grabbed his gloves and headed toward the staircase, they never missed a chance to bug one another, but it only worked to further strengthen their bond.

As Jake arrived downstairs, he took off his blue short-sleeved T-shirt, leaving him in his preferred workout attire: grey shorts with no top.

The boy looked into the mirror, he stood an average height for someone his age, but he bore a nice and lean stature. His straight, dark brown hair began to drape over his eyes, he took his hand and ran it through its length, away from his eyes, allowing him to see clearly.

 _Due for a haircut,_ he thought.

He acquired a decent tan from having to walk through the woods to school each day. Jake always considered himself to be good looking with his defined cheekbones and a shiny trimmed face, absent of anything more than stubble.

He looked at the gloves in his hands and put them on, then brought his fists up and planted his feet in a fighting stance. He tried adding on an intimidating look for himself, but his more standard figure wasn’t doing him any favors.

Moving to a new house and transferring to a new school district was both necessary and rough for Jake, as this meant that he got away from his old classmates, but unfortunately his new ones were definitely not the greatest either.

Being a new kid; and given that his experiences and thick shell from his old school hadn’t left him, he was made a prime target for the more… prominent teenagers to throw their weight at.

More often than not, confrontations lead to violence or violent threats. Jake wasn’t one to simply submit, however. A couple months into his freshman year, he decided it was time he started sticking up for himself. He had asked his father to get him a sandbag, a pair of light gloves and various other equipment. He faked an interest in working out in response to his dad asking why he suddenly wanted fitness equipment; and got right to work when everything was set up.

He threw a jab at the bag with his left.

He worked with his father to “get fit” as he told him. While he didn’t technically lie to his father, he didn’t bother explaining his situation because he didn’t want him to get worried or regret having Jake transfer schools. He did let Scorch in on his situation at school, however, (after all, he doesn’t have any means to inform anyone else) as well as his plans to prevent future altercations. While he worked on his offence and general fitness with his father, he asked Scorch to help him practice protecting himself. The canine would rush at him with headbutts, but eventually Jake would ask for a more intense regimen, asking for him to use his claws and fire attacks.

“ _Jake if I’m being honest, I think you’re nuts asking things like that,_ ” Scorch had said years back at the suggestion that he use his powers against the boy. “ _You and I both know full well that you could get seriously hurt doing this stuff. If you were a Pokémon, maybe, but humans are much more fragile, and can easily get killed by our kind._ ”

He indeed understood that a Pokémon could easily wound and even kill a human if it so desired, but this is the sole reason why this practice was necessary. “It’s either here at home, or out at school somewhere with the way this new place is treating me so far, Scorch.”

Jake stopped hitting the sandbag and let his hands drop to his sides. He remembers that day well.

* * *

**Nearly three years ago**

It was a particularly cold day; Jake had stayed at school late for some extra help on a big psychology assignment with a due date just around the corner.

“Thanks for the after-school help Mrs. Rivers, I really appreciate it,” Jake said to the middle-aged woman with a grin.

“Never an issue, Jake, just don’t forget to have it in no later than Tuesday and be ready to present on Thursday.”

Jake nodded and waved the lady goodbye, rounding the corner to one of the school’s rear exits, more specifically the one facing the forest; his quickest route home.

He fished his phone out of his pants pocket and checked the time, it was nearly 5 PM, he had stayed much later than he would’ve liked.

On his way back, he sighed internally as he ran into three members of his school’s battling team, visibly frustrated from what seemed to be a fresh loss.

“Man, we trained so hard! Why can’t we ever beat those _losers_ from _Ashenfield?_ ” said one teenager to the other two. His voice was deep, even for one his age. The boy was a touch taller than Jake was, but much more built. Despite the cold, he had on a black leather jacket, a short-sleeved shirt beneath, and a pair of pristine black jeans with silver chains dangling out from his right pocket. His crew cut completed the cocky appearance he went for. The other two both stood a good two inches taller than the kid, but they both had on post-workout attire, consisting of hoodies and sweatpants, the one on the right’s hoodie was a dark blue, with grey sweats, while the left had a completely grey set; much more fitting for the chilly day. The names of these kids were lost on Jake, as they were as forgettable as their faces. They all looked exhausted.

Jake tried his best to continue on his way nonchalantly and avoid something, but it seemed too much to ask for.

“Where do you think _you’re_ going, bitch?” the shorter one spat at him, he seemed to be the ringleader of this group.

“Home. Have a nice day,” Jake replied as he continued walking calmly, though gritting his teeth. He knew how to deal their kin: give them as little satisfaction as possible, and hope they’d lose their interest… Lady Luck must’ve taken a personal day today.

“That so? Don’t you want to stay awhile and help us train?” Jake expected this to not go according to plan this time.

What he didn’t expect, however, was for them to throw out two of their Pokémon to intimidate him. The leader tossed an ultra ball, and Blue-hoodie threw a great ball. A Sealeo emerged from the yellow and black ball, and a Koffing from the blue one.

At this sight, Jake’s face visibly tensed in fear, eliciting a sneer from the leader, blue hoodie, and Sealeo. He had never been threatened in such a manner, and what was worse, he didn’t have a Pokémon to his name to help him.

He could feel the adrenaline start pumping through him as he heard the punks yelling at hooting at him, though through it all, he thought clearly.

Luckily for Jake, the Pokémon still seemed to be roughed up from their matches, and the trainers on the team tended to train and exercise alongside their Pokémon. Alongside the fact that the creatures they’d sent after him weren’t built for pursuit, Jake knew that there was only one way of getting out of this unscathed, and acted on it instantly:

He bolted for the forest.

From where the punks were standing, Jake would have to sidestep them before the straight sprint into the forest entrance. He was successful in dodging the first two, but Grey-hoodie managed to grab him by the arm. The two had a very brief scuffle, but Jake managed to get the upper hand and shove the boy off of him before turning and dashing away.

“Alright, you’ll go down tired, then! Sealeo, Aurora Beam!” he heard the delinquent call behind him, starting to sound distorted from distance.

Despite the roughly fifty-yard headway he’d made, he had little time to react as he tumbled to avoid the colorful, frigid beam. It hit a tree in front of him instead, causing frost crystals to form on the bark.

He didn’t hear the call the other trainer made, so when Jake checked behind him, he gasped when he saw a sizable glob of purple that was lobbed at him. _Sludge Bomb!_

He immediately veered to the left, as the projectile was coming in slightly to his right. The wad of goo connected with the grass and sent the putrid substance everywhere within a good five-yard radius. Had he not noticed the ball of poison and kept running, he would’ve taken a pretty nasty hit.

 _Damn, I’m about a hundred yards away, and that was a nearly perfect prediction, and it was a_ lobbed _attack! These Pokémon are trained well._

Jake ran toward the forest, dodging poisonous projectiles and beams of ice until he reached the cover of the trees. When he stopped to catch his breath, he couldn’t help but bring a smug smile to his face upon hearing the boys bellowing in rage.

* * *

He recalled the memory almost fondly. Sure, the bullies were exhausted and unfit to chase him down, but he came out without as much as a scratch.

He had gotten word from school the next day that some bystander had called the police, and that the three delinquents had been arrested. People who use Pokémon to attack people unwarranted have all their Pokémon taken, and their trainer card revoked, though he didn’t know if these kids would have their Pokémon taken away since they were minors. That was the day he knew that he was capable of looking over himself, he wasn’t as helpless as he made himself out to be.

It gave him courage.

The recollection made him smile. He hit the bag again.

Jake acknowledged that he lucked out that day. Those kids weren’t in their prime, next time the conditions may not be in his favor, and he certainly wasn’t going to allow them to think they could walk over him whenever they pleased.

He wound up and threw a right hook, the bag recoiled, but never complained.

He thought back to all of the incidents at school. This was certainly the first time in his nearly three years in attending this school district, but unfortunately, he experienced plenty of harassment for many different reasons: The fact that he wasn’t from the small town, because he was introverted, because he had no Pokémon, and by extension wasn’t on the schools battle roster; for these, he endured both verbal and physical harassment from a plethora of his classmates.

All of these were situations out of his control, and as he thought about it all, it lit something up inside him. It all was uncouth, unjust, and nepotist; just like the world around him.

He threw two more swift jabs, one with each fist. A classic One-Two.

He continued punching the sandbag for another ten minutes, the bag twisting and jerking from the impacts. His knuckles were sore and began to turn a distinct shade of red, so he decided to remove his gloves and use his father’s treadmill.

He stepped onto the machine and set it to 6 MPH, a good jogging speed. Like his father, he greatly enjoyed stretching his legs and getting out of the house to see nature. Jake began to debate if he should go for a walk through the forest for a change, something he hadn’t partaken in since the chain-link fences and protected status were erected around the forest two years ago.

 _Why would they restrict that area? It’s always been peaceful since we moved here… the young trainers would go in, unattended even, to visit and catch the Pokémon that inhabited the forest,_ Jake pondered as his feet impacted the machine with perfect rhythm.

More recently, however, there have been rumors that particularly strong and dangerous wild Pokémon had invaded. This gave him some possible answers, but not many. It’s possible the environmental agencies had foreseen an event such as this, but something still wasn’t quite right. _A two-year warning seems like quite a stretch… I’ll have to look it up sometime._

After a while, Jake increased the speed of the treadmill to 10 MPH to get a decent run going. Today was hot and somewhat humid, so it didn’t take much more until he began to _really_ work up a sweat. After another five minutes, he switched the treadmill off.

He made for the door and switched off the light. He hadn’t gotten to work any upper body like he usually did, but he was satisfied for today, and boy was he parched.

After climbing the flight of stairs, he poked his head into the living room and saw Scorch slumbering away on the sofa, true to his word.

He snorted and rolled his eyes as he glanced at the clock above the TV: _4:40. Still be about two-and-a-half hours out until they’ll be home… gotta grab a drink, then I’ll see what there is to find on the internet about the forest._

Ambling into the kitchen, he grabbed a humorously large cup from the cabinet and ran it under the faucet for a while. Afterward, he held his nearly full cup as he carefully climbed another set of stairs to the second floor, where the bedrooms reside. When he arrived at his own, he stepped in and logged into the laptop on his desk.

Jake’s room wasn’t much, but it suited him just fine. It holds his full-sized bed, a small wooden dresser, a desk (which Jake would consider closer to a large coffee table), and a small plush bed that was meant for Scorch, though he always preferred to lay in Jake’s bed whenever he came in… Jake didn’t mind; and the middle of the room had a light blue and white oval-shaped throw rug on top of the bland grey carpet.

Jake’s room, strangely enough, had no closet. They assumed that his room was originally meant to be a guest bedroom, but Jake didn’t care, he didn’t have enough of a fashion sense to make good use of one anyhow.

He took a long draw from his water, leaving him gasping for breath and the cup half-empty. Pulling up a web browser, Jake went about searching for anything related to the forest.

After a half hour of looking, he hadn’t turned up anything of much use around the tight regulations on it. He did, however, learn more about the forest itself on the town’s main website.

It was called the Burrous Forest. It takes up approximately three square miles of the Receda, and another two square miles of the neighboring town -Ashenfield-, separated by a creek about a mile beyond the left side of the trail.

He also found one name that appeared multiple times while searching for information: Timothy Gareth.

He figured if this Timothy seemed to appear numerous times, he must somehow be related to the forest, perhaps a caretaker or a biologist of some kind. He did a search for the name, but since he knew close to nothing about the man, he couldn’t do much more than hope there was a news article or something that would lead him in the right direction. Jake left his room to have a look in the phone book to see if he lived in town.

Arriving in the kitchen, He opened the drawer closest to the doorway and collected the massive book that it contained. After a bit of searching, he was surprised to find that there was no trace of the last name in the book.

He checked the date and found that this was last year’s copy. He recalled the dates on the articles; all of them were from three years or later, so it’s possible he and any potential family had moved from the area.

Jake closed the book and dropped it on the table. He sighed and decided to give it a rest for now. Realizing just how hungry he was, he began involuntarily taking out the loaf of sliced bread.

He had subconsciously decided to make a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich, his favorite and go-to food when he was hungry.

While retrieving the butter, turkey, and cheese from the refrigerator, Scorch meandered his way into the kitchen, looking weary-eyed.

“ _Whatcha makin’ all that racket for? You know a simple ‘_ Time for dinner Scorch’ _would’ve done just fine,_ ” Scorch complained, distraught.

Jake laid the ingredients on the counter next to the stove while he stared at Scorch, puzzled.

He then realized what the Pokémon was whining about: Him dropping the thick phone book on the table. He couldn’t stifle a chuckle. “Ohhh, did I _startle_ the puppy?” Jake teased him, lilting his voice high as if he was talking to an infant.

Scorch bared his teeth at that. His fangs gleaming from the sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window. Teeth like those could sink right through skin and gnaw directly on bone. _“Piss off,”_ Scorch said, growling. That did it for Jake, he doubled over with laughter. It tickled him pink whenever Scorch would swear at him with the voice he had.

He growled again, more agitated. _“You know I’d torch you, but I promised your parents years ago that I wouldn’t set fire to the house.”_ Jake knew being called a puppy angered him, but he also knew Scorch wouldn’t hurt him. Scorch knew that Jake knew this as well, and it only made him more frustrated, as he could rarely find ways to one-up the boy.

Jake recovered from his fit to see Scorch still, quite literally, fuming at him with miniscule amounts of smoke trickling from the sides of his mouth. “C’mon Scorch, you’re gonna set off the smoke alarm, lighten up and I’ll make you your own sandwich.”

The canine tucked his teeth away at that, also stemming the flow of smoke, but the frown remained “You’re lucky I’m famished.” He barked and sat at Jake’s feet; the accumulated gas being expelled with his words.

Jake grilled two sandwiches for himself and one for Scorch. He had to cut up Scorch’s sandwich into nine smaller squares with the spatula for him. Scorch always claims that it’s easier to eat when it’s cut smaller, but Jake suspects he prefers it that way merely because he likes being tended to.

Over dinner, Jake told Scorch everything that he did that led up to the noise that awoke him: research on the Burrous Forest and Timothy Gareth.

“So, I’m thinking This guy must’ve been a caretaker or something for the forest and had some kind of encounter in the woods with some of the native Pokémon.”

 _“Right, but why do we care again?”_ Scorch said through a mouthful of sandwich.

“Do you not find this even the least bit intriguing? Something big must’ve happened somewhere in that forest, yet I can’t find a thing about it in the newspaper archives anywhere. If it were something big like say a disappearance, you can know for sure it’s in the news.” Jake looked right into the canine’s eyes. “You know they would’ve covered the topic for months, but not as much as _one_ trace? Suspicious, no? And there’s a guy out there who _must_ have an answer-”

 _“Alright, alright, I get it,”_ Scorch interrupted. _“You think you’ve found something interesting, and a name to go off of, but I think trying to track this down is a stupid idea.”_

Jake physically recoiled from Scorch’s discouragement. “How can you say that?”

 _“Well, you said it yourself, you have no information on anything you’re excited about. -Now I want you to stop and think for a second here, Jake!”_ Scorch quickly spoke before Jake could interject, raising his voice. “ _If you can’t find much on this, don’t you think for a second that it could be all in your head?”_

“I think you’re being too dismissive,” Jake simply stated.

 _“_ I _think you’re trying to crawl down a Bunnelby hole, Jake. If you can’t find any information about this guy, or an incident of some kind, where do you plan on getting this information_ that you don’t even know exists? _And what if this is something that doesn’t want to be found?”_ Scorch said, trying to make him see that this is a waste of time, but is met with Jake’s headstrong nature once again.

“I do have one idea… Watchman Smith will know if something really did happen. I know there is _something_ Scorch, I just know it, and if it’s something that doesn’t want to be found, that’d be even better.”

Watchman Smith is an elderly man that happens to be their next-door neighbor. Jake had spoken to him on a handful of occasions over the years he’d moved into town. His real name is William Smith, but since he got his nickname just about 25 years ago (According to the other neighbors, at least), everyone has affectionately referred to him as Watchman Smith. Why he was called that, Jake didn’t know, but that’s one more reason to go talk to the man.

 _“I think that man is off. There’s something to him that I can’t put my paws on. He’s… awkward, like he would spend the whole day reading newspaper comics,”_ Scorch said pensively.

“Considering his age, he’s probably becoming senile is all, oh, and speaking of the newspaper, I could’ve sworn there was one on the table this morning before I left for class...” Jake mentioned accusingly. “Have you seen it?”

 _“Well considering I am only allowed toys either made of metal or fireproof materials, it_ was _fun to play with while it… kindled,”_ said Scorch innocently, yet with a contradictory smirk on his face.

Jake just rolled his eyes and grinned at his best friend as his theory was proven true, the paper was incinerated, most likely from the canine’s worry of Jake’s attentiveness to the information it held.

“You know for someone who hates being referred to as a puppy, you give some very good puppy-dog eyes.”

Jake had little warning before it was time to run, Scorch opened his maw to reveal his throat; glowing with internal fire and bellowing more smoke. Scorch wasn’t going to hurt him, but what’s a little branding? The human didn’t have enough time to put their plates in the sink, as the Growlithe was on his feet chasing the boy out the front door, flames licking the air beyond his open maw.

When Jake was out the door, the fire dog threw embers at him until he reached the road.

And so, Jake was off to talk to Watchman Smith.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? You opinions are valued, even if I may not respond (I'm a biiit of an introvert).
> 
> As for uploading schedule, I can't say that I'll be able to maintain a steady one should I choose to continue... quarantine has things all screwed up.
> 
> Once again, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and hope you'll stay for the next part (Which as of this posting is ~2k words).


End file.
